Speaker 1: I'll start to you want to present Off the Bench
with Jacob Hester and T Bob Abert.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and t Bob aber
the pitch. Now here's Jacob Hester and t Bob a Bear.
Speaker 3: Welcome into our number two Tuesday edition of Off the Bench.
Taylor Sharp sitting in the big boy chair for Jacob
Vester and t Bob ay There very unique weather report
we just got there. Guys, I know it sounded exactly
like me. It actually was that, Jordan, Is that your
me impression?
Speaker 2: It started off, as you know, it started off as
a tailor. Now I've kind of, you know, added a
little bit of extra pizzazz to it. You know. First
when I first did the first time, I was trying
to be you. It's almost like surfer dude, b Yeah,
Cludie with a chance and be balls guys.
Speaker 4: White guy boy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes us call it what it is.
Speaker 4: Thinking.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm sitting there thinking is that just a white
guy voice who's out of me?
Speaker 5: Because I don't really sound like it.
Speaker 4: Was at first.
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong, Yes it was.
Speaker 6: Yes, it was because you like townsour or something, and
we were like, are you gonna do Taite's intro and
are you gonna sound like Taitu when you do it?
And it started off as you and now.
Speaker 4: It's just.
Speaker 3: Because well it's it's just a lot more like surfer
Stone of vibes than then I would typically give off.
I appreciate, I think it's funny. And just like I
was making sure, I was like.
Speaker 4: Is that me?
Speaker 5: Do I need to reevaluate things?
Speaker 3: Okay, alright, look our number two here, we're gonna hit
a lot of football here. We previewed Lashue baseball in
that last segment. I want to start things right now
with some New Orleans Saints. So there have been conflicting reports.
So a reporter by the name that Tony Pauline wrote
an article over the weekend saying that I'm told the
New Orleans Saints are considering releasing thirty two year old
safety Tyron Matthew, who has one year left on his deal.
That is all Pauline wrote on the topic. He had
no elaboration on why the Saints could make this decision,
but Tyron Matthew got wind of it and let me
just point this out though, here's why it doesn't make a.
Speaker 5: Ton of sense.
Speaker 3: Matthew's contract is laid out to where it would actually
cost the Saints more money to cut him than to
keep it. Using that post June one designation wouldn't help
the Saints get under the salary cap in this situation.
I know you hear about that a lot. You're like, okay, well,
if you cut him post June one, you can save
ten million x amount of dollars on your salary cap.
It's actually going to cost the Saints to cut him,
so it doesn't really make a lot of sense to
begin with. However, Tyron Matthew certainly got word of it,
and he said, don't believe all the hype. Slow newsday.
He tweeted out five oh four for life. So my
thing is, with or without Tyron Matthew, the Saints need
another safety. You're gonna let Tyrn Matthew play out the
final year of his deal. I'm good with that. He
is thirty two years old, he has lost a step
that's understandable. Who would be a possible replacement for him
in the future, because right now, outside of Tyron Matthew,
you have one safety on the roster, and it's Jordan Howden,
and he didn't have the best of seasons.
Speaker 5: I went to spow track.
Speaker 3: It brings up the NFL free agencies coming up in
twenty twenty five. I wanted to look at the upcoming
unrestricted free agents and whether or not the Saints should
go after. I got three names. I certainly have thoughts
on them. I'm gonna get Jordan's opinion on this as well.
The first name that I am going to throw out
is a name that was thrown out a lot this
time last year. It's Justin Simmons. Sixty two tackles last year,
two interceptions for Atlanta. The issue I have with Justin Simmons,
first off, he's about to be thirty two years old,
so you don't really solve your youth problem. You're just
bringing in another old safety next to tire Matthew. Also,
he made seven and a half a million dollars last year,
so he's too expensive.
Speaker 5: With the Saints.
Speaker 3: You cannot overpay really at any position for older players
because you're still in cap hill. I like Justin Simmons
as a player. I think he had a really nice
season for the Falcons. He had a nice safety duo
out there in Atlanta. I just don't see the Saints
making this move strictly because again, you have that seven
and a half million dollar contract. I'm assuming he's gonna
want something at least similar, maybe in the five to
six million dollar range, because he.
Speaker 5: Had a good season.
Speaker 3: It's not like he's coming off of a bad injury
or off of a down year.
Speaker 2: Man, I forget him.
Speaker 5: So you're you're saying no to Justin Simmons.
Speaker 2: Definitely saying no to Justine Simmons.
Speaker 5: I am as well.
Speaker 2: Well, you're saying it for you know, the money thing.
I first of all, he wined and dined with the
Saints at first and then winning skipped down with the Falcons.
Justice Simms, get out of here. I'm old.
Speaker 3: I knew you were gonna say that. I'm I'm gonna
say no because.
Speaker 2: Wind and dined with us for a whole week, Like,
oh we can Justin Simmons. Next thing you know, he's
on the first flight to Atlanta. Get him out of here, Jordan.
Speaker 5: It's all about the money, by it's all about the money.
They paid him seven and a half million dollars.
Speaker 3: The Sames couldn't do that because you've been in Capital
for six years now. He's too expensive and It doesn't
really solve your age problem because he's only like six
months younger than Tyrn Matthew. He's about to be he'll
be thirty two years old halfway through next season. The
other name I wanted to point out to you is
Talanoa Hufanga. Okay, you'll remember him from the forty nine ers. Yes,
so the issue with Hufanga hu Fenga is coming off
back to back season inding injuries. Yeah, in twenty twenty three,
he tore his ACL after ten games.
Speaker 2: Off a juke. Somebody juked them out of his a cl.
Speaker 3: He did have three interceptions that year. Last year only
played seven games. He had ligament problems in his wrist
that they shut him down for the entire year. You
remember the forty nine ers were a mess last year.
I mean basically their entire team outside of brock Party
missed like half the season. However, in twenty twenty two,
his last season, playing a full seventeen games, he was awesome.
Ninety seven tackles. He had four interceptions, one of which
he returned for a fifty two yard touchdown. He was
a Pro bowler in twenty twenty two, which was his
last full season of football. Also, he's only twenty six
years old. And if you want to go look at
his contract and say, okay, well what does this do
for the Saints financially?
Speaker 5: Last with the he got paid less.
Speaker 3: Than a million dollars a year with the forty nine
ers because he was still on his rookie deal. This
is a guy that's young, that's affordable. The only issue
is he's coming off back to back season ending injuries.
But again, the last time he played a full seventeen games,
he was a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2: I think it was all Pro too.
Speaker 5: Yes, her Nea Hufanga.
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely no. And you know you have injury problems
you coming down here. You know injurie problems don't get
worse like the Saints and the Pelicans. The medical staff can't.
They can't save a boo boo. So he's already he's damaged.
I gouts call him Damn's good because he's still a
great player. I think if he goes to the right
team that has you know, adequate that can you know
work with him. Yes, but you know, we just had
Dennis Aden to get fired for him to start doing
dynamic warm ups. They wasn't even warming up before practicing
the games before Rizzy became the head coach. So I
don't know what the same is. So you got injurie proms.
Please stay away. This is not what we don't need you.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 3: Final name, Yes, this is a name that everyone knows.
This is a name that I believe everyone can get behind.
How about Damar Hamlin.
Speaker 2: I love it?
Speaker 5: So look I get it.
Speaker 3: Demor Hamlin went from a great story and he was
a guy that was kind of a relative unknown when
his when his injury happened on the field.
Speaker 5: But he's turned into a really good player. Look at
what Damar Hamlin did.
Speaker 4: A year ago.
Speaker 3: Damar Hamlin had eighty nine total tackles. He had two interceptions.
He started fourteen games in one of the best secondaries
in the NFL and on a top ten defense. He's
only twenty six years old, and last season, Damar Hamlin
made nine hundred and ten thousand dollars because he was
an undrafted rookie and he was on an undrafted rookie contract.
Even if you pay him two million dollars, he's more
than doubling his money. Again, he's twenty six years old.
He'll be twenty seven by the time the season starts,
he's shown that he's fully recovered from his hard issue.
He played all he played in fifteen games this year started,
every single one of them, played really well in the playoffs,
and again he was the anchor on the back end
of a top ten defense in the NFL.
Speaker 5: Can I interest you Intmar Hamlin?
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm all in, baby. Look, I know I'm gonna
sound like a hypocriticse I was talking about injuries and
this guy kind of died.
Speaker 5: This is a different kind of injury thought.
Speaker 2: This guy is anointed from the Lord. This guy was
brought back to life on a football field. So if
anybody loved and he still plays, anybody loves the game,
is DeMar Hamlin. The Saints need more people out there
that love the game. So yes.
Speaker 3: So those are kind of the three guys I wanted
to highlight in free agency and look obviously for different reasons. Right,
they all have their own issues, but they all have
a lot of things to like about him as well.
Justin Simmons, a little too old, a little bit too expensive.
Hufenga an excellent player, a top ten safety when he's
fully healthy. He hasn't been fully healthy in two seasons now.
Tamar Hamlin certainly had the hard issue when he went
into cardiac arrest. However, he seems to have been fully
recovered from that. He's on the cheaper side. He's only
twenty seven years old. A lot to like about those guys,
and I think they're all gettable because look, they all
have their certain issues. Can the Saints work with those issues.
Here's the other thing I want to look at. Let
us know rookies coming up in this NFL draft. So
Malachi Starks is going to be a first round pick
right now, he is the only safety projected to go
in the first round. I'm not saying the Saints should
draft him with their first round pick, but look, when
you look at Malachi Starks in his three year career
at Georgia, one hundred and ninety seven tackles, six interceptions. Again,
he's likely a first round pick. If you fall in
love with this guy, I wouldn't mind it, because I
think you have a desperate need at safety. But I
don't think they're going to do that round one, just
because this is a very very deep safety class. Let
me explain Xavier Watts. We all know the name the
safety out of Notre Dame one of the best defenses
in college football. He absolutely put on a show in
the College Football Playoff. One hundred and eighty eight tackles
in his college career, thirteen interceptions, six interceptions last season
for one of the top five defenses in all of
college football. He was a staple on that Notre Dame defense.
He's coached by Marcus Freeman, so you know he's well coached.
He should also be there in round two when you
get to pick, because right now he's projected as like
the forty fifth, forty six over all player on most
teams big boards. If teams don't reach for safeties Xavier Watts,
if he's drafted where he's listed right now, that's right
around where the Saints are going to be in round
two of this NFL draft.
Speaker 5: Another guy I want to look at Nick m and worry.
Speaker 3: He's a guy that's been rising up draft boards. He
was incredible at the combine. He's from South Carolina, Ulus
You fans may know him. He is the one that
threw the blind side block on Garrett Nelsemeyer that got
the interception of return for a touchdown called back ultimately
out old.
Speaker 2: Well hold On Taylor. You can't say that now because now, no,
I don't like him. I was liking him till you
told me that.
Speaker 3: Look, yeah, you gotta take the good with the bat
with all these guys. Oh man, he is a freek athlete,
though he's a freak. He had in three seasons at
South Carolina two hundred and forty four tackles, six interceptions.
He's also six three, two and twenty two pounds out
in the safety position. You can move him in the
box if you need to. You can play him around
the line of scrimmage. Again, he has six interceptions. He
has the coverage skills to play on the back end
as well. He is rocketing up draft boards, but right
now he is still considered a second round pick. He's
a guy that could also be there when the Saints
are picking early in the second round. The last guy
I want to mention, kind of the polar opposite size
wise from Nick Emm and Woriy Billy Bowman from Oklahoma. Look,
I get it, Oklahoma's defense wasn't very good. Billy Bowman
was Billy Bowman. One hundred and eighty eight tackles, eleven
interceptions in four years. Is Brent Vinnible is a good
head football coach. I certainly do not think so, but
he is a hell of a defensive coach. Now, Billy
Bowman a little bit on the smaller side. He's five
to ten, he's one hundred and eighty eight pounds. But
if you need a guy roaming in the back end
and you want to play Tyed Matthew closer to the
line of scrimmage, Billy Bowman fits what you want to
do if you're looking for that deep safety. Now, he
didn't have the versatility of an emm And Worry or
an Xavier Watts, but the guy could cover with the
best ulp. He also had six and a half tackles
for a loss at Oklahoma, so he can come up
and make tackles. He's a surefire player on the back
end of a defense. He played in the SEC this
past year and he was really good. I mean, look,
all the hype was on Danny Stutsman, the linebacker at
Oklahoma coming into this year, and rightfully so. He was
a preseason All American. Danny Stutsman had a good year.
He's a heck of a player. For my money, Billy
Bowman was the best player on the Oklahoma Sooners defense.
I don't really think it was particularly close. He kept
them in a lot of games. He was the reason that,
you know, teams like Tennessee had trouble throwing the ball
on them because Billy Bowman is so fast on that
back end. He can cover a lot of ground. I
love all three of these guys I just brought up.
I like Malachai Starks as well. Problem is the same,
They're going to have to use a top ten pick
if they want to take a guy like Malakai Starks.
I just don't think they're going to do that. I
actually would not hate if they did do it, because again,
I think there's a big need there. I just don't
see him doing that with guys like Xavier Watts, nick
Him and worry Billy Bowman coming up in the second
and third rounds of this draft.
Speaker 5: This is a deep safety class.
Speaker 3: So even if you don't land a DeMar Hamlin, who
fenga Justin Simmons and free agency, there are a lot
of really solid options in this rookie class. All Right,
we're going to take a quick time out. When we
get back, get your questions in the YouTube chat. It's
time for OTB Mailbag. We'll hit it on the other
side here on off the bench.
Speaker 1: Off the bench, Welcome in to the best morning sports
this show around off the Bench with Esther and t Bob.
Speaker 3: I think we should just spend an entire segment playing
Lincoln Park. I absolutely love Lincoln Park a laundra the
music has been on point today, thank you.
Speaker 5: What's the theme? Kind of TATA again?
Speaker 3: Is alternative rock, though today kind of seems more of Look,
I'm enjoying it. You were, you were nailing it. I
don't even know if I told you I loved with
Lincoln Park. But I vibe, I give up, I do
give off the vibe. Okay, I'm actually gotta give us
our first question. Let's go ahead and hop in right now.
O TB Mailbag, I help this.
Speaker 7: Special delivery off the bench and look it is more
most urgent you the internet?
Speaker 2: What the is the internet?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 3: The first mailbag question comes from me hashtag OTB Mailbag.
Everyone in the room, what is your favorite King cake flavor?
Speaker 6: Ummm, the one with cream cheese filling.
Speaker 5: Okay, should just standard cream cheese feling.
Speaker 2: Okay, Jordan, We'll have a cinnamon traditional.
Speaker 5: Cheese you're an unfilled king.
Speaker 3: Okay, guys, listen all the Louisiana and yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2: Yoe, what is going on here? Eight in the morning.
Speaker 5: Fill me up, look, laundrights the cream. Jordan doesn't. Jordan,
let me explain to you why you're wrong.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, yes.
Speaker 3: Listen, all the Marty girl purists are gonna come after
me and be like, you have to have the traditional
kin cake. A traditional kingcake unfilled is a crappy cinnamon roll.
Speaker 5: That's exactly what it is. The no you can have.
Speaker 3: You can have the best ones, man, because filling is
always better than no filling. The answer is quite clearly.
Strawberry cream cheese. It gives you a little bit of fruit.
It gives you the cream cheese option. You got the
icing on top as well. It makes the inside of
the cake a lot more moist than the dry unfilled
traditional keencakes. Is some kind of Philly enjoy you're filling.
Lauder likes the regular cream cheese. I go the strawberry
cream cheese. It is not traditional unfilled under any circumstance.
Speaker 8: Give me.
Speaker 2: Those are just not good keencakes. After like a day
after a day and you're.
Speaker 5: Not getting the right ones. No, man, I can go.
Speaker 3: Get a strawberry cream cheese kancake and eat on it
for a week, no question about it.
Speaker 2: You e you.
Speaker 3: OTB mailbag, Well you do a beer run for fat Tuesday.
No beer run today, guys, I don't even know what's open, okay, Like, honestly,
the three of us and Hunt Palmer are the only
ones in this building right now.
Speaker 5: So half of the building is off today. I don't
even know what's open.
Speaker 3: There's also one gas station in our vicinity here at
government streets, so if the shove around down the streets
are not open, we can't even really make a beer run.
So no, no beer run today. I love the spirit,
I love the enthusiasm.
Speaker 5: Bad day to do it?
Speaker 2: Here to fund it?
Speaker 5: So, oh, TV Mailbag.
Speaker 6: Just bop fund the beer runs. Just goes and buys it.
Speaker 2: Oh, he gave you the money the one time I went.
So I ain't gonna lie, but you might want to.
Speaker 5: I want to first, First off, you went on one.
He went on one? Yeah, yeah, T Bop gave you
the money to go on a beer run.
Speaker 4: Change.
Speaker 3: I probably spent sixty dollars on beer runs.
Speaker 5: I probably spent sixty dollars on beer runs.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, you might want to send it. Fine's coming up, man,
you need that.
Speaker 5: I'm a give write it off. I'm a given right.
Speaker 2: No, that's true.
Speaker 5: It is a work expense.
Speaker 2: It's work expense.
Speaker 5: Yes, I even helped him.
Speaker 3: I even helped him, put him in the freaking cooler
in his office.
Speaker 2: Taylor, they got you in video doing it. Do you
have video evidence of you doing it?
Speaker 5: Twice? Twice twice? Yes, get your thirty bucks each.
Speaker 3: No, No, they were like, well, because I got us
the twenty four they were about they.
Speaker 5: Were twenty one. It was about twenty one. It was
probably forty two.
Speaker 2: Bus He spent sixty dollars, told him he needs, he needs,
he needs.
Speaker 5: He let him the change. He's sixties, sixties a little
high it was.
Speaker 3: It was probably like forty two to forty five, somewhere
in there in my boy's coins. Yeah, okay, here's one
OTB mailback. Will Jordan go on a monster run for Taylor? Okay,
so there's no monster today. We went the super manly
pink condition.
Speaker 5: Of the Red Band. Today it's new.
Speaker 3: It's called wild berries plural, not just your normal wild
berry I give it like maybe a six point five
out of ten.
Speaker 5: Not great.
Speaker 3: Okay, here's one that I actually have the perfect answer to,
but I want to hear yells first.
Speaker 5: Hashtag go TV mailback.
Speaker 3: This comes from Bilbo nam An l s U supporting
event you want to attend but have not attended yet.
Speaker 6: Like this question a gymnastics meet hold out you have.
Speaker 5: Explains that.
Speaker 3: Look, women's basketball is rolling right now under Kim Molki.
I understand that the most electric it has ever been
in the p MAC. Yeah, gymnastics needs no question about it.
Three experiences in the p MAC are all gymnastics.
Speaker 2: Y I would love to go.
Speaker 6: I just and the women's bass. I don't go too
many sporting events unless it's like football. I have to
be there, but like when.
Speaker 5: It's easier, like football is always on a Saturday. It's
like six times out of the year. Yeah, the home game.
Speaker 6: I get that we're always working so like it's hard
to get out there. But I would love to go
to a gym meet.
Speaker 2: Oh man, mine is easy. I would love to go
to the box. I've never been to the I've never
been to LSU baseball game. I always see it from afar.
I want to like tailgate and like go to the game.
Speaker 5: We have tickets here all the time.
Speaker 4: We got to go.
Speaker 2: Jordan, Oh yeah, well, like I've never been to night.
That's good tonight. I ain't gonna go tonight Tomorrow night.
What was the weekend series?
Speaker 5: Sounds like Ordan doesn't really want to go.
Speaker 2: I want to go. I want to go on like
a like a I want to catch like a Friday.
You know it's Friday. We out you at the box
like we lit, like the games look lit.
Speaker 5: And also midweeks not even close to weekend.
Speaker 2: I tell them, yeah, yeah, I want to get to
like I wanted to be litt I want to tailgate.
You know I'm out there, you know, eating a hot dog,
crushing some beers. If you about to go to the game,
Like yes, I would love that. I want to go
to the box so bad.
Speaker 3: So my answer, which I've actually brought this up to
Victoria in the last week and we're going to go.
Speaker 5: I want to go to an LSU beach volleyball meet.
Speaker 3: They seem awesome and how they do it so like
they'll do it on a Saturday. They'll do like a
ten thirty am, three o'clock in the afternoon and like
a six thirty p m. So you could really pick
what time of day you want to go. We're going
to go do this. They're on the road till like
March twenty eighth, but I'm actually I'm not missing any work,
but I'm actually out of town that weekend early April.
Me and Victoria actually go into a beach volleyball event.
I hear they're awesome. They pack it out because they're
really good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can kind of s Thenalympics.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can kind of stand round on the little pavilion,
or you can go sit in the bleachers.
Speaker 5: It looks awesome.
Speaker 3: That is That is actually one that I want to
go do and will go do. Okay hashtag OTB mailbag.
Should OTB do a tailgate?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 6: Actually so I think we're gonna do a watch party
for whenever we open up SEC play versus Missouri. So
I don't think that might be a home series. But
if you're not gonna make it out to the game,
it's gonna be at Elite. More details to come once
the Boys get back, but.
Speaker 3: Well it would have to be for baseball to football
is a friggin' madhouse. You can't even find space to
It would have to be baseball to your point.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so yeah, a watch party is.
Speaker 2: Coming up, regardless if it's a tailgate to the game,
I will be I have to go to the box, like,
there's no way, it's just too lit. It just looks
so lit. I just have never been.
Speaker 3: Never hashtag OTB mail bag. When is the last time
you have checked your mailbox?
Speaker 5: Two days ago? I checked my mailbox about twice a week.
I mean two days ago.
Speaker 6: It's right outside my door, so every day you check.
Speaker 5: It every day? That is honestly very responsible.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's like right outside my door, like one year again. Yeah,
so I see it every day.
Speaker 3: I know one of those houses where it's like, so
I don't live on a busy street, but the mailbox
is across the street.
Speaker 5: And it does kind of suck.
Speaker 3: Yeah, twice a week, three times a week depending. Sometimes
Victoria will order something without telling me and be like,
can you go check the mailbox, And I'm like, there's
clearly there's going to be like three packages in this mailbox.
So unless I know something's coming in, yeah, two or
three times a week, I mean every other day.
Speaker 5: I think that's see. I think that's a reasonable amount.
Speaker 2: The problem is I worked at the post office before
doing this, so I'm kind of like traumatized into being
on them because I used to hate delivering somebody's mail
and they're not checking the mail and it's just like
stacked up. So dude, that's the worst. It's the worst,
and you gotta like throw it on this. It's regard.
I hate people that didn't ever check their mail. So
I'm like, I'm like Stockholm syndrome to checking my mail.
I just love it. Now have to all right?
Speaker 3: Final question, This one comes from T Bob's chest hair
shout out hashtag otb mailbag.
Speaker 5: And I what y'all missed the most in the studio?
Absolutely not.
Speaker 2: Now we missed the knee Bob's knee.
Speaker 5: Us have a page as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't know, not trying to make y'all beat.
Speaker 3: No, T Bob's chest. There is not what I missed
the most Bobs chest. There is not something I even
think about. But really, ever until this exact moment, No,
absolutely not.
Speaker 2: Whe's tee Bob's beard. We need a T Bobs beer
in the chat you.
Speaker 3: Do need a T Bubbs beer. But Jake's got one too,
so then they gotta have it. It takes up a lot,
all right, Look, that's going to do it for OTB
mail bag. When we get back, we're gonna be joined
by Jason Legerne of grid roon football or we're gonna
continue our preview of l s U Spring Football Day
or on the practice field on March eighth. So this
upcoming Saturday, we'll hear from Jason on the other side
here on Off the Bench.
Speaker 9: Off the Bench Boudros Electrical dot com, but also just
type in and whatever your search engine is, you can
type into Boudros Electrical and you'll see the reviews that
they get, right, five out of five.
Speaker 8: There's no four stars, there's no three stars, there's no
two stars. Speaking of recruiting, it's only five stars. And
we did this i'd say three weeks ago, and it
was like I had like forty nine reviews. It's over
seventy something right now, just three weeks later.
Speaker 4: Because you're hearing about Boudros.
Speaker 8: They've been doing this for so long, and you know
what you are going to get every single time. You're
gonna get a five star effort and a five star
player every single time from Budro so check those reviews
out on Google. Also, go to their website Boudros Eelectrical
dot com. You can set up your appointment. You can
see their contact information. It's right there in the bottom
right corner of the website Boudros Electrical dot Com.
Speaker 4: More Power, more Protection.
Speaker 1: Welcome in to the best morning sports this show around
Off the Bench with Hester and t Bob.
Speaker 3: I want going to go before the Beat dropped a
long welcome back in to Off the Bench, Taylor Trumpery
with you hilling in for Jacob Hester and t Bob Abart.
All right, we're going back to LSU football. They will
be on the practice field coming up this weekend. Uh
spring football about the kickoff and for that, we're going
to be joined by Jace Lejern of grit Arn't football, Jase,
what's going on this morning?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 7: Nothing much, Budd was going on on Taylor, not a
whole lot.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, you're kind of leaving me out to drive
this coming Friday night, But you know what, it's payback.
I missed the baseball game last Friday night, you're missing
it this Friday. But uh, look we got we got
the chit chat this week and Nonethe last Jace. When
spring practice starts, just kind of overall, whether it's a
specific player, position group, whatever, what is the biggest thing
you're going to be watching during spring practice?
Speaker 7: Well, the biggest thing is actually probably the biggest storyline
heading into spring practice Taylor, and that's really the defensive
long because Chu has been looking for really that constant
presence at defensive line since Brian Kelly's really gotten here
for a defensive line coach, and I believe with Jacoby
and Gilry, I think he's with a seven different defensive
line coach he's going to work under since he's been
here at LSU. So that's really the biggest storyline. You
thought you had that with Bo Davis and you know,
one of the best out there in the entire country,
and now you want to have to find a replacement
for him heading to spring football. Is the things grabbed
him away. So that's going to be the biggest storyline
for me because you have a lot of new pieces
on the defensive line, especially when he edges, so really
looking at who the defensive line coach is going to
be and who's scoring wre we work with these guys,
hopefully we get an announcement pretty soon about that. But
that's really the biggest thing. I really got my eye
out on how on who is going to be and
how he works with with the these guys or in
the spring.
Speaker 3: As far as the UH spring practice goes, LSU is
bringing in a heck of a lot of transfers that
will be on the practice field coming up here shortly.
As far as top transfers to keep an eye on,
who are you gonna be looking at.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm definitely going to be keeping my eye on.
I on Patrick Payton obviously, the defensive end transfer from
Florida State, arguably the top gym. We talked about this
transfer poorer class for LSU. That was a huge git
for the Tigers to get him in and UH and
especially as a position to neat. I mean, you lose
both your defensive ends from last year, which was a
really a strength of this team last year. We talked
about how well Brandon Swinton and Savion Jones played last year,
So I'm looking at him on the defensive side of
the football. And LSU also got a couple other defensive
end transfers to as well, one from Nebraska, one from
Florida too. So I mean looking at those two guys
too offensively, you know, the wide receivers are going to
be something.
Speaker 4: To watch out for.
Speaker 7: Barrion Brown. I thought that was a big pick up
for LSU from Kentucky because he does a lot of
really good things, and especially he's been so successful as
a kickoff return return specialists for the Wildcats. See what
he can do as well give you an extra dimensional
special teams on the offensive side of the football. Aloshue's
got playmakers all over the field, so see where he's
seeing where he fits. I'm gonna be very intrigued. And
now that's gonna be an interesting uh. I mean basically
battles there too, because you have like three capable guys
that could bring it into the house w any given
play where it's Barrion Brown, Davion Thomas, we've seen him
do that, especially in the bowl game, and Aaron Erson.
So I'm very intrigued to see how he fits them all.
Speaker 3: I mean, you look, you just you just brought up
the receivers and you know that's that's one of the
quote unquote battles in the spring that brings me right
into it, like position battles for our issue, whether it's receiver,
whether it's that cornerback spot safety is up for grabs,
like what spot are you watching?
Speaker 5: As far as position battles, I actually totally.
Speaker 7: Agree with you on the first two. You said, micha
literally wide receiver in cornerback, I mean wide receiver. You
always know that the talents always there for l Isshue
and it is still heed. I mean, you have a
pretty good mix of experienced guys, whether it's Aaron Anderson,
Xavion Thomas, Chris Hilton, and especially if Chris Hilton, that's
always been the question about Chris. Can he stay healthy
for going towards the fall. If he can do that,
I mean just to carry the Momentomy had towards the
end of the season game against Oklahoma and then after that
in the bowl game, he can be in for a
big time year. See how he fits. He got. You
also had a couple of transfers in as well, as
we talked about Barrion Brown, Nick Anderson. He's shown some flashes.
He had a great freshman year in Oklahoma, so his
thing is staying healthy as well. And he had in
the tiny ends trade as Green and you know what
kind of mismatched problem. He is power shop, Dovin Jackson,
those guys like that, It's going to be a lot
to look at when you talk about how many who
throw mean Donmond Green, but who are these guys that're
gonna be the receiving options for this for this team.
Speaker 3: As far as some of the younger guys Jason Sharon
with greatnd football joining us right now, as far as
some of the younger guys coming in in the spring,
or you know a guy that maybe was on the
team last year red shirted for whatever reason. I want
to talk about Harlem Berry. First look, he's going to
be the early enrolllye. And we know about Harlan Berry, right,
I mean, he was explosive in high school. He's the
number one running back in the country coming out. You
got Cayden Durham, you have Caleb Jackson. Those are really
the only two returners. I mean, Josh Williams is moving on.
You no longer have a John Emery. What do you
want to see from Harlan Berry?
Speaker 7: Harlem Berry is one of those unique talents, right, I
mean you talk about just I mean electrifying speed in
the open field. He's a playmaker. I mean, he he's
just got that special gear. He's going to be one
of those type of guys Lsu. You know, he's not
like the big two hundred and thirty pounds running back
every down back that we've seen in previous years from
other FOP star bats like Learn Fournette in the past,
La Shoe. But this is a guy that can change
the game any given play. So he can be like
a like a gadget guy. You can you can do
tosses with him, jet sweeps, screens, just give him the
ball in the open space. And and I really like JT.
Lindsay as well coming in. That's another freshman that comes
in in the Steine class at that running back position.
Uh So this running back position is looking much better
in terms of just overall death. And you know, we
got two guys that JT. Lindley he can be like
a he could be in every down back. And you
sprinkle that in with with harm Berry, who has that
ability like a Reggie Bush, you know, just to take
over a game. And he's just a human highlight reel.
But if you add those two guys together, you all
know what can Durham can do. So if you just
he just needs some rests. I mean, he he pretty
much was the l Shue running and running game last year.
So if you can get anybody to help compliment that,
give him some rests, I think they can do that
with what two freshmen that can play a lot early on.
Speaker 3: So you know, I kind of talked about this though
opened the show earlier because you got Harlan Mary and JT.
Lindsey coming in there. They're two of the best running
backs in college football. You offered a preferred walk on
spot to read Chouvan out of Episcopal.
Speaker 5: Caleb Jackson, like he had so much.
Speaker 3: Hype going around him coming into last season, he's kind
of the forgotten man in this room.
Speaker 5: What do you expect from him in springball?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean for Bally, for Caleb, it's just getting
down just just to really learn the offense no and
just being able to stick to that no one where
what holes they hit, being patient. A lot of times.
I just thought that he wasn't patient. A lot of
times he was just running through the back of an
offensive limb and didn't really get to see the holes.
I know he struggled a lot with that last year,
and you know, and you know, he also bolt.
Speaker 3: Up a little bit.
Speaker 7: So hopefully you know, the strength conditioning program can get
Caleb Jackson just a little bit under. I mean as
far as like leaning up him compared to last year
because he was coming bigger than what he should have been.
So just getting him healthy and just give him a
good weight to play with as well. Is this something
that they're going I'm keeping an eye on with kle
and see how he moves as well with his wave
because I know that was a problem in tall practice
last year.
Speaker 3: Smar Jace. We know that they have to replace Bo Davis.
That's going to be a tall task. As far as
position groups though, going into spring practice, what is your
biggest question mark for this Tigers team?
Speaker 7: I would say, and this was actually the spring that
was actually the stream going into camp last year. As
the offensive line. Now, there's a lot of a lot
of question marks with the offensive line. Ay, Tom, you
have to replace two guys who are four year starters
or three year stars for you and Will Campbell and
Emery Jones. You have to replace those two guys, but
you have to all several replace two guys that are
multi year starters. There. Since beginning with Brian Kelly, as
Garrett Downger and Miles Frazer. You have to replace those
two as well. And you really have one returning starter
from last year and that's DJ Chester, and you know
he strove a little bit at center. So you were
able to get a couple of transwers coming in and
Josh Thompson from Northwestern and Braylan Moore who has started
at center at Virginia Tech. So that's gonna be something
to keep an eye on to they move Chester to
guard and put more in at the center. Thompson just
looks like he's got the guard role, and it's Tyrie Adams.
Is he ready to step up and be the left
tackle for Garrett nus moyerk who's going to be the
right tackle. So there's a there's just a lot of
There's a lot of talent in that room. There's just
a lot of untemp potential and a lot of question
marks with that offensive line hanging into the spring. And
this is gonna be a big year to see what
Brad Davis can.
Speaker 4: Do with those guys.
Speaker 3: Jace, before I get you out of here, look a
lot of people are talking about the pressure on Brian Kelly.
It's it's you know, is this the make or break
a year for him? Is this Brian Kelly's most talented
team heading into a season.
Speaker 7: I'm not sure about. I feel like it is just
getting more talented each and every year. But I think
it's the most easily just like match in terms of
personnel just across the board, right like offensive line, you
have some talent there. It's just the reason that's the
question mark is just all those guys haven't started in
SEC play, but you've got talent there. Uh. And then
you look at the defense, they're they're just building more
and more pieces, better pieces, uh, in terms of their
whole defense. And I saw it with not on transfer portal,
but the freshman class coming in DJ Pikett was a
big pick up as well in the secondary. So the
secondary is showing up a little bit, getting back to
where l was expected to be.
Speaker 2: DBU.
Speaker 7: You know, what what to expect from the linebacking course
will be uh. As long as they're health healthy, especially
Harold Perkins and what weeks is they can stay healthy,
that's gonna be one of the best in the entire
country in the front in the front four. Yeah, a
lot of guys in again side have played a lot
last year too, so offensively, you know you got the
skill talent, you got the skilled weapons. The year It'smarck
comes back. So all across the board, that's a big
reason why LSU is a big year for them and
then projected to maybe make that next step in terms
of competing for a college without playoffs, just because how
this is probably the most easily match personnel football team.
That is who's had across the boards as Brian Kelly's
gone here.
Speaker 3: Jase Lazern, grid Aron Football. Jase, thanks so much for
hopping on with us today, man, and.
Speaker 7: Hey time Taale, I appreciate it. Have yourself a good one.
Speaker 3: That was Jason Lagern, grid Aron Football. We're gonna continue
our spring preview. That'll do it for today, but we'll
continue our spring preview throughout the week. We'll look at
different position battles, top storylines heading into spring, and we'll
keep an eye on who LSU hires as their next
defensive line coach.
Speaker 5: R We're gonna take a quick time out when we
get back.
Speaker 3: Will Campbell keeps taking an enormous amount of criticism in
this NFL combine heading into the draft, and I don't
really understand why. We'll talk about that on the other
side here on off the bench, off to banks.
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Speaker 3: Welcome back in final segment, hour number two to the
edition of Off the Bench, Taylor Trup filling in for
t Bob Abear and Jay Capstor. Thanks so much for
jas Lejern hopping on with us to preview a little
LSU spring football. We'll go from current LSU Tigers to
a former LSU Tiger. Will Campbell is drawing a lot
of praise and a lot of doubters. At the NFL
Combine look, Will Campbell ran a four to nine eight
in the forty yard dash. It was one of the
fastest times for any O lineman. He had the best
standing broad jump of any O lineman at nine feet
five inches. However, his arms are apparently a little bit
too short, And I just don't understand why so many
scouts and so many NFL executives try to be the
smartest guy in the room at all times. So anybody
who doesn't know, Will Campbell's arms measured at thirty two
and five eight inches. Apparently the standard minimum across the
board for offensive tackles is around thirty four inches. Maybe
a little bit smaller, So you're going to potentially pass
up on what I believe is the best left tackle
in this NFL draft because his arms are about an
inch too short.
Speaker 5: Who cares go look at what he did for three years.
Speaker 3: He started thirty eight games at LSU at left tackle
in the SEC. Mel kiper Junior says, if you look
at the big boards, it's projected that Campbell blocked against
fifteen guys who will go in the first and second
round of this upcoming NFL draft. He was a three
year starter in the SEC. Go look at his tape.
He won so many more matchups than he lost. He
was an excellent blocker. We talked about his run blocking
that got better as the year went along. Needs to
chill out on the fall starts, but once the ball
is snapped, he is an elite left tackle. And you're
gonna potentially pass up on this guy because his arms
are a little bit too short. But what about his
forty times? What about his standing broad jump? This guy's explosive.
He's an explosive athlete. He's also somebody that you could
throw in there at tackle or guard. It's not much
different than Fuaga, who he talked about last year, played
right tackle, he played left tackle, he played guard. Now,
Campbell was such a good left tackle, he was your star,
a wart there for three years. But Campbell is so versatile,
so athletic, he can play a multiple spots. Don't pass
up on this guy because you're worried about his arms
being too small. It's the same crap we hear all
the time about, oh, well, this quarterback's hand sizes are
too small. You throw all the tape out the window,
you throw all the numbers out the window. You don't
care about all the big games that they won, and
you look at the hand sizes. For example, the three
biggest hand sizes in the NFL in terms of starting quarterbacks,
Will Levis number one, Jordan Love number two, Anthony Richardson
number three. Seen a little bit of a pattern. Jordan
Love has shown his flashes my opinion. He mean, I mean,
he hadn't done anything in about a year. Three guys
that are in the top five smallest hand sizes in
the NFL in terms of starting quarterbacks Joe Burrow, Jared Goff.
They're tied for the smallest hands in the NFL Baker
Mayfield at nine and a fourth. Those three guys are
a hell of a lot better than the three guys
I just mentioned who apparently have these massive hands, which
is so important at the quarterback position. Stop with all
of this. Stop overthinking everything. Hand size doesn't matter with quarterbacks.
It's never mattered with quarterbacks. Arm links not going to matter.
As a left tackle. You could either play football or
you can't. You either have good technique, you either have
good feet. You either have the strength to block these
guys or you don't. You're not gonna block this guy
because your arms are thirty four inches instead of thirty
three inches. Stop overthinking everything. Will Campbell is a bona
fide first round pick. He is the best left tackle
in this draft. Don't pass up on a potential ten
year guy that you can just plug in there at
left tackle and not worry about it for the next
decade because his arms are about an inch shorter than
you would like them to be. I don't understand why
gms do this. They do it time and time again,
scout to do it. They try to poke holes in
every little thing, and they don't look at the guy
that's right in front of you. I see a guy
who is a three year starter at left tackle who
started thirty eight games in the SEC, who is six
y six, who is three and twenty pounds, who ran
one of the fastest forty times and had the best
broad jump of any offensive lineman in the NFL draft.
That shows athleticism, It shows explosiveness, and Will Campbell's tape
speaks for itself. Stop with the arm size, stop with
the hands, eyes, it doesn't matter. It's never matter. A
little bit of a rant there to close out hour
number two. Look, when we get to our number three,
Nick Underhill is going to hop on at his normal
spot at nine am. I'm sure Nick's gonna have a
lot of thoughts on the NFL draft where the Saints
should go there.
Speaker 5: We may take a little NBA basketball, guys.
Speaker 3: I watched a heck of a college basketball game last
night involving one Cooper Flag and we'll we'll maybe get
into that a little bit a couple of NFL topics.
I want to hit a shad Or Sanders still QB
two in this NFL draft. That's all coming up in
our number three. Off off the bench, Off the bench,
it's a dunking.
Speaker 4: Like Jordan's good.
Speaker 8: It feels like maybe somebody else needs to go to
your goodwood dot com and check out what they've got
for you. Check out out uh some T situations and
different things, because I don't know, don't love the energy
coming out of some people.
Speaker 4: There your goodwood dot com.
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